Simon Horwith's Blog - MAX

No MAX for me this year

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:44:00 -0400

For the first time since 1999 I've decided not to attend the big annual conference (I've been to every MAX and Allaire/Macromedia DevCon to date). This is partially because I feel as though there is little resemblance to DevCon left, partially because I feel as though the number of sessions being offered that would be useful to me doesn't justify the cost or time out of office, and because I'm just too busy. If I had attended it would have primarily been for the business development opportunities.

I am sending an employee and have no doubt he'll get a lot from the conference. A lot of old friends emailed to ask me if I am going so I thought I'd just let everyone know.

Finally - My MAX Wrap-Up Thoughts

Sun, 14 Oct 2007 19:34:00 -0400

It's been a little over a week since the Adobe MAX 2007 ended and I've been too busy to write a 'final thoughts' entry until now. I'm somewhat grateful for that, as I was able to review what other bloggers have said and can now offer a condensed bit of text that adds to everything that's already out there.

For starters, from a 'business development' point of view, the fact that I haven't had time to write until now can be attributed to the amount of business development to be done at MAX. That alone makes the conference a success and makes attendance worthwhile.

A lot of developers have told me that they weren't happy with ColdFusion's presence at MAX (that it was abysmal compared to other topics). It's true that DevCon has undergone a massive change over the years. MAX is largely all about user experience and the conference was about the new products and the 'to-be-released' products. ColdFusion is the most powerful rapid development platform for server side web application development... but it isn't in the same league as Flex, AIR, and Flash video with regards to it's ability to demo. In other words - CF might be dead sexy to many of us, but at their big showcase conference of the year, Adobe is right to show-off the sexy new Flash/Flex based technologies. Speaking of Flex, one great announcement at MAX which apparently slipped by most attendees was the announcement that the price of Flex Builder Standard will be dropped to $249 starting November 1, 2007. If you're thinking of buying a Flex Builder license - I suggest using the free trial for a few weeks more and then making your purchase. The new Flex Builder pricing is a very smart move by Adobe, who will be successful in their mission more easily if they can strengthen the adoption rate of Flex and Flash as much as possible before Microsoft pushes hard to get into the game. I say that because from what I've seen so far, Silverlight just isn't ready to compete and because right now Microsoft is probably fairly preoccupied with 'fixing Vista' and with keeping Apple at bay. Not that Microsoft doesn't still have people working on it, but it's not much use going after a new market (RIA) when you're losing the one you've already got and it's your bread and butter (the desktop).

In the past, Adobe and Macromedia wowed us with apps they built internally which showed what web apps will be like in the future or even what they could be like today. At MAX this year, there was more emphasis on the products themselves and the apps they showed were real applications built, or in the process of being built, by real clients to meet real needs. This says a lot about the technologies (that they've matured and their time has come) and shows that there are real use cases (and a real growing demand) for these apps. I applaud Adobe for focusing more on these more tangible and more important aspects of what the company is all about.

One of the most important reasons I attend MAX is to take Adobe's temperature... to gauge where they're going strategically as well as to judge their overall internal health (based on the observations and conversations I have with the many, MANY friends I have at the company). I'm happy to say that I left MAX relieved. Finally, for the first time, I saw that the Macromedia acquisition dust has settled and Adobe has been made stronger and better for it. New friends from Adobe seem to 'get it' and old friends from Macromedia seem happier and more excited than ever. In other words, the company has gotten through all the bumps and changes that come with merging, appears to have taken the best from both cultures and melded them into one, and both the company and it's employees appear to be very focussed on a common mission. I am eager to see what the next year will bring.

Where's My MAX Wrap-Up?

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 10:21:00 -0400

I just wanted to let folks know that I left MAX a little early yesterday because today is my son Ishaan's first birthday. I have several things to say about MAX, and will be doing so very soon.

EffectiveUI Builds Award Winning Flex and AIR Software

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 14:10:00 -0400

Big news from yesterday: the company I work for, effectiveUI (http://www.effectiveui.com), won 2 MAX awards yesterday for "San Dimas", the eBay Desktop Application, in the categories of "Rich Internet Application" and "People's Choice". eBay San Dimas is an AIR application (written in Flex) that brings eBay content and services to the desktop to deliver a superb online/offline Web 2.0 experience. You can request the Forrester report describing how San Dimas may become the "gold standard for customer experience" from the effectiveUI website.

MAX Awards recognize "the best of the best uses of Adobe software" (http://adobemax2007.com/awards/overview/) and it's really an honor to not only win best in RIA but to also receive more votes for best across all the awards nominee submissions from MAX attendees. Thanks to eBay for being visionaries, to everyone at effectiveUI who worked on the project and made it a success, and especially to everyone at the show who voted for us in the awards.

MAX Day 1

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 02:25:00 -0400

Day 1, for me, consisted of attending the keynote, socializing, and being on a BOF panel. The keynote was, in my opinion, not bad but certainly not as exciting, inspiring, or invigorating as I'd hoped - mostly just not energetic enough. There were several announcements including the release of Flash Lite 3, the acquisition of Virtual Ubiquity and their online Word Processor Buzzword (http://www.adobe.com/special/buzzword/faq.html), and the release of the Adobe Media Player (http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/mediaplayer/). I decided to get to know my new colleagues at effectiveUI better and to do some business development and social networking rather than attend sessions, which I can watch recordings of later. The bus. dev. today alone completely made the conference worthwhile, which is great. Also, the Adobe staff were available, everywhere, and eager to chat. My BOF experience was participating in the "Promoting ColdFusion outside the ColdFusion Community" think tank, which was fun and, I believe, productive.

MAX Day 0.5

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 02:20:00 -0400

I say "Day 0.5" as tomorrow is really day 1 - today was registration, welcome reception, and full day hands-ons. Not much to say so far except that everyone's here (same crowd as always) plus a couple thousand new faces. Well, that's the feeling anyway. Attendance is over 4,300 and it shows - everything is on a larger scale than ever. I'm looking forward to whatever tomorrow's events may bring.

MAX Pre-Conference

Sat, 29 Sep 2007 18:23:00 -0400

I'm in Chicago and just finished checking out the MAX set-up. Man, this place is HUGE. After 40 or 50 minutes of walking around, I think I finally understand the lay of the land - be forewarned: if you're attending MAX be prepared to not dilly-dally between sessions. The set-up and effort going into set-up are both extremely impressive. The banners in the building encourage you to attend next year's MAX - in San Francisco around the middle of November (the exact dates are on the banners but I forgot what they are). Not much else to say about the conference other than that - except that there isn't much in the immediate vicinity besides the conference area and a hotel (Lake Michigan and it's beaches are really close, too). Oh - I noticed that the conference area has free wireless, a Kinkos, and has a Starbucks, too ;)

Making sense of the MAX 2006 Announcemens

Wed, 25 Oct 2006 18:24:00 -0400

Several things are being announced and/or demonstrated for the first time at MAX this year - most significant of which is Apollo. I've been a long-time Flex instructor, developer, and fan and I have a background including several years of desktop software development in a couple languages. Apollo is something I'm extremely excited about and looking forward to using - in fact, I have a couple ideas regarding software I'd like to develop using Apollo which, hopefully, I'll be given the time and resources to implement.

But how is the IT industry reacting to Apollo and the MAX announcements? The jury is still out, since it's only been a day and a half, but ZDNet News has a good overview of how they see Adobe poising themselves to allow companies and individuals to create amazing experiences and achieve better, faster results using Apollo and other integrated Adobe tools. You can read the ZDNet article at http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6129403.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=zdnet

Yes, I'm Still Alive

Fri, 20 Oct 2006 21:09:00 -0400

The arrival of my new son has been keeping me VERY busy. On top of that, AboutWeb was just awarded 2 government contracts. I'm the lead architect on an application that's hitting one of the largest databases on the planet (can't say more than that right now)... so I've been busy AND without internet access during days.
I've been so busy that I'm not really going to be attending MAX this year. I will be flying into Vegas Sunday evening, though, and will be teaching my full-day hands-on. Nic Tunney, who I rely on frequently at AboutWeb, will be teaching my 90 minute hands-on sessions, and other speakers will be giving my CFUnderground and MiniMax presos.
Anyone who wants to get together - I will likely be at the Beach at the tail end of CFUnderground (I should make the Celebrity Pyramid game) through the end of MiniMAX. I'll also be at the Monday night welcome reception for a good while and then I'm hopping on a red-eye back to DC.
Congratulations to Paul Mignard, the winner of the contest to cover MAX for CFDJ. I'm really looking forward to reading his piece - he's even promised some illustrations (Paul is an amateur cartoonist - you can see some samples on his blog at http://www.onekidney.com/). He's even got a CF Super Hero (http://www.onekidney.com/?p=93)

Want To Go To MAX? - I Might Be Able To Help

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 14:46:00 -0400

It's that time of year again - I'm sending one lucky person to MAX to report on the conference for ColdFusion Developer's Journal. I apologize for this contest being so close to the event date.

In order to be considered, all you have to do is send me an email at simon@horwith.com telling me why I should send you. That's it! I'll apologize in advance to all those who I don't choose - I've only got one pass to give away this year. I can't provide hotel or travel costs - so if you or your company can't cover those expenses, please be fair to those who can go and don't enter the contest.

I'll be looking at the emails today and tomorrow and would like to make a decision by 5 PM Eastern Time tomorow (Wed., Oct. 10).

CFUnited 2007

Fri, 29 Sep 2006 13:48:00 -0400

Just a quick post to let everyone know that the CFUnited 2007 call for topics and speakers is now online at http://www.cfunited.com/2007/pages/callforspeakers.cfm.

On a slightly different topic - I'm still awaiting the birth of my son, so my Las Vegas plans are still in the air, but I'm currently scheduled to present at CFUnderground, MiniMAX, the MAX full-day pre-conference hands-on, and a regular MAX hands-on session.

MAX 2006 and Simon 2.0

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 14:20:00 -0400

I try not to fill my blog with personal stuff, but thought I'd let people know that I may not be at MAX this year (for the first time since the original Boston conference). The reason? My wife and I are expecting a baby boy on October 16, which is obviously ridiculously close to the conference. Adobe has invited me to present on the ColdFusion MX 7 Application Framework (again) this year (90 minute hands-on). Rather than just say "no" what I've done is accept, but with a co-speaker, Nic Tunney, who will be teaching in my absence. Nic's a great developer and certified instructor who also works with me, and I'm sure he'll do a great job if I'm not able to make it.

MAX 2006

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 09:13:00 -0400

The MAX 2006 sessions and agenda are all online now (http://www.adobe.com/events/max/) and registration is now open at https://www.adobemax06.com/.

Allaire DevCon was THE big CF event... renamed MAX by Macromedia after they acquired Allaire... and now the tradition continues with Adobe. Definitely a conference not to miss - among other things, you can bet that more of Scorpio (CF 8) and Apollo (which I'm particularly excited about) will be shown at the conference.

Spry 1.1 is looking good

Fri, 09 Jun 2006 10:24:00 -0400

I'm not a huge fan of AJAX, not with Flex 2 on the scene, but for companies/developers who insist on using it, AJAX does let you do some nice things with your web pages. I haven't been writing much about Spry on my blog because I've been waiting for some of the planned super-cool features to be released. Well, with Spry 1.1, one of the features I've been waiting on is now available.

Spry is, in my opinion, the nicest AJAX framework/API available. The Spry team has made it ridiculously easy to implement and has kept the syntax and features similar to Flex in many ways (binding syntax, UI controls like the accordian, and effects like zooming and fading). Spry 1.1 is now available at http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/spry/.

So what's this new feature I'm so excited about? Non-destructive filtering. Those of you who attended or viewed online (http://www.adobe.com/macromedia/events/max/max2005/video/) the Day One General Session keynote saw destructive filtering put to good use in Flex when the XD group demonstrated their sample application - the multimedia store app. with CD, DVDs, video games, etc. for products. Now they've brought the non-destructive filtering functionality to Spry, and it is sweet. There's a sample app that uses it in the samples when you download the Spry 1.1 framework... definitely worth a look!

Interested in Attending MAX 2006?

Thu, 08 Jun 2006 13:04:00 -0400

In case you're not aware, you can now sign-up to receive emails about the upcoming MAX conference in Las Vegas this October. The sign-up form is online at http://www.adobe.com/events/max/subscribe/